So-called Damascus steel swords were known from around the seventh century onward and dominated warfare for centuries as a result of their good toughness in combination with their outstanding cutting ability. The name derives from the fact that these swords were first encountered by Europeans in Damascus Syria. Damascus steel swords were regarded as a thing of beauty as a result of their unique surface pattern, FIG. 1, and as a thing of mystery as a result of the inability of early Europeans to reproduce the swords despite efforts to this end over the last two centuries.
Damascus steel swords are still regarded in this manner as evidenced by continuing efforts up to the present time to determine the methodology used to produce the swords. For example, the Wadsworth and Sherby article "On the Bulat-Damascus Steel Revisited", Prog. Mat. Sci., Vol 25, P. 35 (1980) reports previous claims by scientists that processing techniques had been discovered for reproducing the surface pattern characterizing the genuine antique Damascus steel blade. However, these previous reports have failed to show blades that embody the surface pattern and internal microstructure of genuine antique Damascus steel blades.
Several technical publications have documented the surface pattern embodied on antique Damascus steel blades; see the aforementioned Wadsworth and Sherby article, the Belaiew article "Damascene Steel", Journal Iron Steel Institute, Vol. 97, p.417 (1918); the Zschokke article "Du Dammasse et des Lames de Damas", Rev. Met., Vol. 21, p.635 (1924); the Panseri article "L'aciaio di Damasco nella leggenda e nella realta", Armi Antiche, Vol. 3, p. 3 (1962); the Smith article "A History of Metallography", Chapters 3-5, Univ. Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill.; the Piaskowski article "Metallographic examination of two damascene steel blades", J. Hist. Arabic Sci., Vol. 2, p. 2 (1978); the Peterson et al article "Damascus Steel, Characterization of One Damascus Steel Sword", Materials Characterization, Vol. 24, p. 255 (1990); and the Figiel article "On Damascus Steel", Atlantis Arts Press, 522 Muirfield Dr., Atlantis, Fla. (1991).
Several of these articles have presented cross-sectional views of the blades which allow the internal blade microstructure to be ascertained. FIG. 2 is a micrograph of a transverse section from the aforementioned Peterson article which illustrates that the blade contains aligned sheets of Fe.sub.3 C (a compound commonly called cementite) particles in a matrix of pearlitic iron. The cementite particles are clustered around the centerlines of the sheets (referred to hereafter as cluster sheets). That article also demonstrates that the alignment of the cluster sheets is the same in both the transverse and longitudinal sections of the blade and that a spacing between the cluster sheets in the range of 30 to 100 microns achieves the unique surface pattern evidenced by a genuine antique Damascus steel blade.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method of making a steel article which exhibits the unique surface pattern and internal structure of a genuine antique Damascus steel sword or blade.